Sale observes that Yaḥyā the commentator, most rationally understands hereby the divine revelations which David received from God, and not the art of making coats of mail.—The cause of his applying himself to this art is thus related in the Mirātu ʾz-Zamān:—He used to go forth in disguise; and when he found any people who knew him not, he approached them and asked them respecting the conduct of David, and they praised him and prayed for him; but one day, as he was asking questions respecting himself as usual, God sent to him an angel in the form of a human being, who said, “An excellent man were David if he did not take from the public treasury.” Whereupon the heart of David was contracted, and he begged of God to render him independent: so He made iron soft to him, and it became in his hands as thread; and he used to sell a coat of mail for four thousand [pieces of money—whether gold or silver is not said], and with part of this he obtained food for himself, and part he gave in alms, and with part he fed his family. Hence an excellent coat of mail is often called by the Arabs “Dāwudī,” i.e. “Davidean.” (See Lane’s translation of The Thousand and One Nights, chap. viii. note 5.)
David, it is said, divided his time regularly, setting apart one day for the service of God, another day for rendering justice to his people, another day for preaching to them, and another day for his own affairs.
DAʿWĀ (دعوى). A claim in a law-suit. A claim or demand. (See Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. iii. p. 63.)
DAʿWAH (دعوة). Lit. “A call, invocation (i.e. of God’s help).” A term used to express a system of incantation which is held to be lawful by orthodox Muḥammadans; whilst siḥr, “magic,” and kahānah, “fortune-telling,” are said to be unlawful, the Prophet having forbidden both.
From the Muslim books it appears that Muḥammad is believed to have sanctioned the use of spells and incantations, so long as the words used were only those of the names of God, or of the good angels, and of the good genii; although the more strict amongst them (the Wahhābīs, for example,) would say that only an invocation of God Himself was lawful—teaching which appears to be more in accordance with that of Muḥammad, who is related to have said, “There is nothing wrong in using spells so long as you do not associate anything with God.” (Mishkāt, xxi. c. i.) It is therefore clearly lawful to use charms and amulets on which the name of God only is inscribed, and to invoke the help of God by any ceremony, provided no one is associated with Him.
The science of daʿwah has, however, been very much elaborated, and in many respects its teachers seem to have departed from the original teaching of their Prophet on the subject.
In India, the most popular work on daʿwah is the Jawāhiru ʾl-K͟hamsah, by Shaik͟h Abū ʾl-Muwayyid of Gujerat, A.H. 956, in which he says the science is used for the following purposes. (1) To establish friendship or enmity between two persons. (2) To cause the cure, or the sickness and death, of a person. (3) To secure the accomplishment of one’s wishes, both temporal and spiritual. (4) To obtain defeat or victory in battle.
This book is largely made up of Hindu customs which, in India, have become part of Muḥammadanism; but we shall endeavour to confine ourselves to a consideration of those sections which exhibit the so-called science as it exists in its relation to Islām.
In order to explain this occult science, we shall consider it under the following divisions:
1. The qualifications necessary for the ʿāmil, or the person who practices it.